Figure 5.

A Signals representation of an experiment. There are three types of input signals in the network, representing a clock, experiment epochs (e.g., new trials and experiment start and end conditions), and hardware input devices (e.g., an optical mouse, keyboard, rotary encoder, lever). In an exp def, the user defines transformations that create new signals (data not shown) from these input signals, which ultimately drive outputs (e.g., a screen, speaker, and external hardware such as a reward valve). The exp def is called once to create these experimenter-defined signals, which are updated during experiment runtime as the input signals they depend on are updated.